When Owensboro native and son of a former track star King Combest got out of the blocks a week ago in Louisville, he instantly knew he could have done better.
Despite his desire to perfect his craft with the perfect start, when the dust settled King had run a 7.40 in the 60-meter dash.
According to MileSplit, King’s time is the fastest in the country for a 7th-grader. According to his father Casey Combest, a former track star, it’s the second-best recorded time ever by a 7th-grader.
King said he was dialed in from the start.
“I was focused,” he said. “I was telling my dad I was ready to go. I was motivated. My dad told me my family was counting on me. My grandma, she was watching it the whole time. I thought ‘I’m going to win this for her.'”
Casey has trained his son since King was young, but Casey wasn’t the first in the family to showcase their skills on the track.
“My dad was a track star so when I was a kid, I just always wanted to outdo my dad,” Casey said. “When I see him (King) run, I just think about the talent and how far we’ve come with it in our family. Looking at him, it’s always like ‘he’s the king version of Casey, the supreme version of me.’ I was good and I still hold all those records, it’s almost like he’s so far more advanced than I was for his age.
“When I see him run, I just think about how far he can go.”
While Casey started running at about the same age King is now, King started much earlier — but he’s gotten to reap the rewards of those that taught his dad throughout the years.
King said he knew of his dad’s successes from a young age.
“When I was young, I looked up to my dad,” he said. “I was there for him and I wanted to see how it is. My dad trained me when I was a little kid and I said I’m going to start doing this. I’m going to put the work in.”
Despite his career and accomplishments, Casey admitted he doesn’t see himself the same as others do.
“I don’t think I was a great athlete,” he said. “I think I was a great sprinter that had the mindset of somebody like a boxer. If he wants something, we’ll get it on. King is just more of a supreme athlete. He’s good at every sport.”
One area Casey has never had to convince King to take part in was training. From the start, King has always enjoyed the grind.
“I really believe this, his work ethic is second to none,” Caey said. “I always look back and I wish I could have worked harder. People say ‘you really worked hard’ but at the same time, I didn’t work as hard as he did at his age. I didn’t know. I didn’t have the thought.”
For Casey, he wants King to not only thrive on the track but enjoy it as well. He said it’s been vital to his training.
“I’m proud of King but a lot of people think I’m hard on King,” Casey said. “I’m not. My dad pushed me. I don’t really push King because I don’t want him to get burnt out but I don’t have to push King … When we sit down at the dinner table Wednesday night and we’re running on Saturday, the adrenaline starts. It’s something we can’t control. It just comes out. When I see King run, I see talent. I see God-given talent, just blessed but he’s also this warrior, a competitor.”
When Casey asks King what he wants to be when he’s older, a track star isn’t the first answer.
King says he wants to play football at the University of Alabama but added he could run track as well. Casey said he sees a world-class sprinter.
“When I see him out there doing what he’s doing, it’s on another level for his age,” he said. “He loves to win, he loves to compete. He’s just an all-around good kid. I really wish I could be more like him.”
Next for King is the middle school state championships on March 13 in Louisville.
It’ll be about the 15th race King has competed in — and in those races, he’s broken his personal record every single time.
Casey said he knows he and King didn’t come up the same way, and he’s tried to keep stress from his son’s life. For Casey, it’s about helping King become more than he ever could be.
“We grew up different,” he said. “I tried to raise him with no pressure, no stress. I think a lot of good athletes, they feel pressure from parents, friends, teachers. They want you to live up to this gold standard. King, no matter what happens … He’s a better athlete than I am and he’s going to go farther than I ever went. It’s not really about me, it’s about him and that’s what I really try to make it about is him. He asks about me on a daily basis but at the end of the day I’m thinking ‘you’re the man. I’m not the man.’ I couldn’t hold his jockstrap when I was his age.”
